Battle of Aleppo 98% over

Following reports late last week that the Syrian military controlled a whopping 92% of Aleppo, the losses among the rebel coalition in the city continued to mount rapidly, with the government now saying it controls fully 98% of the city, and every single district east of the Aleppo River.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights declared the fighting all but over, saying the rebels had effectively lost and it was only a matter of time until they collapse outright. Syrian Lt. Gen. Zaid al-Saleh insisted the battle would end quickly, and the rebels had only the choice of surrendering or dying.

showdown at al-Bab

The Turkish army has dropped leaflets on the Islamic State-held city of al-Bab in Syria urging civilians to seek shelter, as rebels backed by Turkish tanks and warplanes close in on the city.
Last week, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the Turkish-backed rebels had closed in on al-Bab, in an advance that potentially pits them against both Kurdish fighters and forces allied to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose front lines lie nearby.
The city is of strategic importance to Turkey, partly because Kurdish-dominated militias have also been trying to take it from the jihadists. Turkey is determined to prevent the Kurdish YPG militia, which it sees as a hostile force, from joining up cantons it controls along the Turkish border, fearing that would embolden Kurdish separatism at home.

ISIS recaptures Palmyra

After taking significant territory in the surrounding area over the past week, ISIS has captured the ancient city of Palmyra, the second time they’ve taken the strategically important city in the course of the Syrian Civil War.
ISIS first took the city in 2014 and lost it the following year to Syrian troops. With Syria focusing its military power elsewhere, particularly in Aleppo, the defenses were quickly overrun by an ISIS advance, and ISIS took over the city with comparatively little resistance.

More boots on ground

On Saturday, the Pentagon announced another escalation of the war in Syria, saying they are sending another 200 ground troops into the country to take part in the Kurdish invasion of Raqqa. The deployment brings the number of US troops in Syria to around 500.
Unnamed US officials say they’re not too worried about the troops getting attacked by ISIS in the course of invading their capital city, but rather that they see a bigger risk of suffering a military attack by a US ally, Turkey.
Turkey made clear for months they didn’t want the Kurds anywhere near Raqqa, and they have attacked Kurdish forces elsewhere in Syria, including around the city of Afrin. The Turkish government has also made clear they intend to attack the city of Manbij, currently held by Kurdish forces, which is near Raqqa.

Mosul offensive barely moving

Another week of heavy fighting has resulted in another claim of dubious “progress” for the Iraqi military in the invasion of Mosul, with the latest statement claiming that special forces, the only troops who’ve made it into Mosul in any real numbers, managed to expand into a pair of contested neighborhoods in the city’s east.
The eastern half of Mosul is considered much less valuable than the western half, which is where the bulk of ISIS defenses are. With Iraqi forces only getting limited penetration, and that all in the east, however, ISIS has been able to shift some defensive assets around, slowing the offensive even more.
Inside the city, a neighborhood here or there is positively limping forward, with Iraqi offiicals saying the special forces are still several kilometers away from the Tigris River, and that they are confident they’ll get to the shore “with the same speed” they’ve seen so far. That speed could well mean several weeks to even get a foothold along the river, with the overall offensive expected to last many more months.